The Portland Timbers can still win the Cascadia Cup championship, but it's going to take a little longer.

The Portland Timbers had a golden opportunity to wrest the trophy out of the hands of the Seattle Sounders, but they could only manage a 1-1 draw on a sunny Saturday afternoon in front of a sellout crowd of 20,438 at Jeld-Wen Field.

Had Portland won, the Timbers would've claimed the Cascadia Cup championship, a fan-created competition between the three MLS teams (Portland, Seattle, Vancouver) located in the Pacific Northwest. The Timbers desperately wanted to capture the title and the Cup with a win against their archrivals in front of the home fans.

"We're a bit disappointed, because we wanted to raise the trophy in front of the home fans," midfielder Jack Jewsbury said. "But we now have a little bit more work to do."

The Timbers (7-14-7, 28 points) remain in the driver's seat - they lead Seattle by three points - to win the championship, but they will likely have to win the title on the road. The Timbers will play at Seattle (13-6-9, 48 points) Oct. 7 and at Vancouver Oct. 20. They will probably need to come away with at least a draw in Seattle to win their first Cascadia Cup title with all three teams competing.

"The Cascadia Cup competition is long from over," Portland center back David Horst said. "A lot of things can happen with two games against Seattle and Vancouver."

The road to the Cup may gotten a little bit tougher, but at least the Timbers can say they still have a very good chance of hoisting the Cup.

"It gives the fans something to be excited about and kept the Cascadia Cup very much alive," said Gavin Wilkinson, Portland general manager and interim coach.

Rodney Wallace, who replaced the suspended Steven Smith at left back, scored the equalizing goal in the 78th minute. Wallace's header occurred after Jack Jewsbury whipped in a corner kick and the header caused the ball to slip by Seattle defender Leo Gonzalez and goalkeeper Michael Gspurning.

The goal was the first of the season for Wallace.

Wallace's goal energized the Timbers, who started pressing their attack. Bright Dike nearly scored Portland's second goal, but his shot from about 12 yards out hit the post and bounced away in the 91st minute of play.

"The response of the group was tremendous," Wilkinson said. "We battled. We scrapped. We started to keep the ball more."

Portland's goal came after Seattle forward Fredy Montero gave the Sounders the lead in the 57th minute. Montero's score came just seconds after Portland starting goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts pulled himself out of the game with an apparent left arm or shoulder injury after colliding with Seattle forward Eddie Johnson in the 52nd minute.

Backup goalkeeper Joe Bendik came on and didn't have time to settle in before Montero took a long punt from Gspurning, shielded center back Hanyer Mosquera from the ball at the top of the box and blasted a pretty strike for his 12th goal of the season.

"We let the ball bounce, we didn't challenge on the first one and we got beaten on the second one," Wilkinson said. "We probably should've played with a little bit more of a stronger mentality in that situation - challenge the ball a little further up the field and get him a touch on the ball. The first touch on the ball for him was picking it up out of the back of the net."

Horst said he and Mosquera could've done a much better job defending Montero.

"We've got to do a better job of not letting Montero get in that position," Horst said. "I could've won the first ball. Mosquera probably could've tackled Montero a little bit better."

Portland's history after allowing a goal hasn't always been stellar, but Seattle seemed to dial back its attack and started playing for a draw. That strategy allowed the Timbers to take the initiative.

"We have a belief in one another that maybe we didn't have early on in the season," Jewsbury said. "We're not going to put our heads down when we go down a goal and give then up a second and third."

Portland's rally salvaged a draw and a point, forcing to go to Seattle and get a positive result to win the Cup. They are winless on the road, but to have the opportunity to win a trophy is all they can ask for at this point.

"That is the one thing we want most at the end of the year is to do that," Horst said. "Winning the Cascadia trophy is something to reward the city, reward the organization and reward the fans. We really want to do this."